For yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater and her husband, mediator Ike K. Lasater, language is a spiritual practice based on giving and receiving with compassion. In What We Say Matters, they offer new and nurturing ways of communicating. Long-term students of yoga and Buddhism, the authors here blend the yoga principle of satya (truth) and the Buddhist precept of right speech with Marshall Rosenberg's groundbreaking techniques of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in a fresh formula for promoting peace at home, at work, and in the world. The authors offer practical exercises to help readers in any field learn to diffuse anger; make requests rather than demands or assign blame; understand the difference between feelings and needs; recognize how they strategize to get needs met; choose connection over conflict; and extend empathy to themselves and others.
Ike Lasater facilitates the resolution of conflicts, coaches people in conflict, and regularly teaches NVC mediation skills in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the U.S. He practiced trial law in San Francisco for 20 years and co-founded Banchero & Lasater, a 20-person law firm specializing in complex, multiparty commercial and environmental cases. He served for a number of years on the mediation panel for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
He has served on the board of directors for a number of organizations including the Center for Nonviolent Communication, the Association for Dispute Resolution of Northern California, and the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco. He also co-founded The Yoga Journal magazine. Though based in San Francisco for 35 years, Ike now lives in Poland. He has three adult children and one grandchild. To find out more about Ike's work, please visit http://wordsthatwork.us.





